BlueLion.

Fucking spot on. Some people need to take off their sentimental-tinted shades and look at the bigger picture.

I think for the neutral it would have been an excellent game to watch between two massive teams. However, for us in the second half, it was like having teeth pulled out. In yesterday's game we saw both sides of Chelsea - the wonderful attacking prowess of Lampard and Anelka and Drogba in particular showed we still have the ability to open teams up, before our defensive display in the second half was typical of the Mourinho Chelsea. I think the team played very well, in all honesty. Petr Cech looked a little nervous early on, his kicking was wayward and he flapped at a cross or two, but really kept us in the game in the second half with two decent stops and a couple of good catches under pressure. He organised his defence well but there were points in the game where he showed his recent lack of form. Jose Bosingwa was average at best - he was a decent attacking outlet but he really should have finished the opportunity he had in the second half. Left the defence exposed on a number of occasions, leaving Alex against Young and Agbonlahor - however he did manage to keep both of those players contained in an improved second half performance. Alex was excellent, and despite being beaten once or twice in the air by Heskey, I think he did very well to contain the big striker as well as Carew when he came on. He was a threat going forward and fashioned a chance or two from set-pieces and from open play. John Terry was exceptional. Defended valiantly throughout and organised the defence effectively. A proper captain's performance, on another day he might have had two goals but for a brilliant save and some very alert defending by Friedel and Petrov respectively. Excellent performance from the skipper. Paulo Ferreira looked really out of sorts, and his lack of football recently was apparent in the first half when his lack of understanding with his teammates almost cost us when Heskey stole the ball from him. However he was much better in the second half and put in a typically solid shift at the back. Made an important tackle of Agbonlahor in the first half which stopped a potential break. Michael Ballack was probably the weak link, although he did put in a very workman-like performance. Did some stellar defending but he was terrible in an attacking sense, choosing the wrong pass at the wrong time. However, Frank Lampard proved why he is not only Chelsea's best player but arguably the best midfielder in world football. A piece of absolute genius for Anelka's goal, the first touch was exquisite, the second delightful, and the pass was wonderfully weighted into Anelka's path. Deserved a goal on that performance. John Mikel Obi frustrates me. He can put in an exceptional tackle one minute and then make a simple but effective pass into the attacking third, before giving away needless freekicks. He's simply in a slump at the minute - I hope he can recapture his early season form sooner or later. Salomon Kalou was decent, but his performance was far from that of the previous weekend against Watford. Made a couple of decent runs and also defended quite well, but he was very quiet in the first half, although his cool head in possession got us out of a couple of tricky situations. Didier Drogba was fantastic, if you ask me. Maybe not the sort of Drogba we are used to, ie. banging away goals and flicking every long ball on, but not only was he effective at causing disarray in the Villa defence, but he was brilliant in defence as well. He made one exceptional block from Milner that could easily have gone in. An excellent performance from the Ivorian. Nicolas Anelka delighted me with his movement, and he was our major attacking outlet - whenever Drogba came back to defend, Anelka would be out wide ready to make a run at the defence. Took his chance beautifully and a deserved 21st goal of the season for the Frenchman may well spark a late charge for the title - although those hopes are fading quickly. Deco came on and was excellent if you ask me - some delightful runs and his passing was excellent also. He kept a cool head going forward and always played the right pass. Juliano Belletti barely touched the ball when coming on the 89th minute so I can't really do much except sing his name whilst dancing around like a lunatic

I highly expect Juventus to throw everything at us early on to get an advantage to take back to Turin. In del Piero they have probably the best striker in world football over the last 10 years, and he is by no distance finished - he can punish us in an instant with his quality. I would imagine Juve would be happy to take a 0-0 back to Italy, but I expect them to look for an away goal at the Bridge and play a more cautious game in the second leg. That's certainly what I would do, because if you don't try and play at Stamford Bridge, and just try and defend, no matter who you are, 9 times in 10 you will be opened up.

We have the academy coaches around to make the youth players better, but I see your point. If we sold Terry for £30 million, we could sign someone such as young Breno from Bayern for around £10 million and then have £20 million go straight into the transfer kitty for a major signing, for example

The last two gameshave shown us glimpses of the old Didier Drogba but he has to warrant a new contract. If he can continue to show the same committment in matches - and by that I mean continuing to come back and defend as well as being our major attacking outlet - and even bang away 10 goals before the close of the season, we should certainly offer him a new deal.

I completely agree with Biru and Tri-Blue. If the right offer comes along, we really need to accept it. Whether Terry would accept it or not is a different matter, but if any club came in with a £20-£30 million bid for any player, you would be mad not to accept it. It would be a step in the right direction for becoming both self-sufficient AND rejuvinating the squad with some youth.

Meh, was to be expected.

Can't say I do... I know a Bulgarian person who lives in Denmark if that helps

I actually though Deco was excellent when he came on. Kept the ball exceptionally well and gave us the attacking outlet we needed in the second half, and he defended valiantly as well.

:lol; It was excellent, in fairness.

Of all the teams to lose your clean sheet record to.... BLACKBURN ROVERS

The current TEAM record is 1337 minutes! LMFAO 1337 ftw! Van der Sar's remains intact.

Haha. 1-1

The world record is 20 matches and 61 minutes. If they beat that I'll serenade around Manchester naked.

I wouldn't be surprised tbh. They're 1-0 up against Blackburn already.

If the Bosingwa shot was a foot either side it would have been a goal, and the same for Ballack. Shame.

http://www.talkchelsea.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3689 Match report

Aston Vila 0-1 Chelsea F.C. February 21 2009, Premier League, Villa Park, Birmingham Michael Ballack celebrates with goalscorer Nicolas Anelka. Nicolas Anelka continued his scoring form to net the winner at Villa Park in a potentially vital win for the Blues. Heading into the day's clash against the West Midlands side in fourth position, new manager Guus Hiddink will be delighted to see his side claim victory against their fellow Champions League contenders. A result that sees the visitors leapfrog their opponents into third position, Chelsea will certainly look to build on their improved recent form heading into their mid-week crunch clash against Juventus in the Champions League. For his first team selection as Chelsea manager, Guus Hiddink made several changes from the side that had won away at Watford. Sticking with the same midfield and strike force, the Dutch coach elected to field Paulo Ferreira at left-back in place of the suspended Ashley Cole, whilst John Terry and José Bosingwa replaced Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Mancienne respectively. Villa were without captain Martin Laursen, and the presence of the big centre-half as Blues striker Didier Drogba made a nuisance of himself throughout. Former Chelsea midfielder Steven Sidwell was on the bench, along with the fit-again John Carew. Emile Heskey and Ashley Young passed fitness tests and started the game. It was Drogba who created the best chance in the opening exchanges, latching on to a through ball and launching an ambitious, angled effort that Friedel collected. At the other end, Villa went close when Cech flapped at a cross, but Heskey's rushed effort was high and wide thanks to John Terry, who managed to hurry his England colleague with an attempted challenge. Agbonlahor wasted a half chance when his effort lacked the power to worry the Chelsea goalkeeper, before Lampard was gifted time and space, and almost punished the hosts with a brilliant shot from 30 yards that fizzed inches over Brad Friedel's crossbar. But Chelsea demonstrated their class on 19 minutes as Nicolas Anelka put them ahead. Bosingwa played in Frank Lampard, who brilliantly danced between two Villa defenders with some brilliant footwork, before passing cutely into the penalty area to Anelka. With the goalkeeper rushing out, the Frenchman cleverly dinked the ball over the advancing American for his first goal in the Premier League since the equaliser against West Ham in December. Kalou's pacey run threatened to open up the Villa defence that as becoming increasingly shaky, but Drogba and Lampard were not on the same wavelength, and the ball was cleared. From the subsequent corner, captain John Terry had a bullet header saved at point-blank range by Friedel after the England skipper had connected with Lampard's front post delivery. Without a league goal since Chelsea's visit to the Stadium of Light last season, the Chelsea number 26 will fail to come much closer without finding his name on the scoresheet. Chelsea were almost punished for missing opportunities on 33 minutes when Ashley Young struck the crossbar from a freekick. Wrongly given the set-piece in the first place, the Villains came desperately close to equalising, but Heskey's follow-up header on the rebound was wide of the mark. The away end breathed a collective sigh of relief. Terry could have scored again mere moments after the break but his header was cleared off the line by the alert Petrov, but Chelsea's attitude in the second half was far more defensive than their expansive play in the first period, preferring to keep the ball than run at the Villa defence which looked to be buckling under the pressure from the Chelsea attack. Cech saved from Agbonlahor with relative comfort on 52 minutes, as the Blues looked happy to sit on their one-goal lead, but it still required effective concentration from the Chelsea shotstopper. Hiddink wasted no time in shaking the team up by bringing on Deco for Kalou to tighten the midfield. Gareth Barry, the stand-in Villa skipper was next to try his luck from range, but again Cech was up to the task of denying the England midfielder, tipping his drive wide with a solid pair of wrists, before again shooting on 74 minutes - straight into Cech's well-positioned gloves. Drogba fired wide with the angle against him, before Bosingwa had a brilliant chance on the counter. The Portuguese defender scored in previous trips to the Midlands against Stoke and West Bromwich Albion, but this time his shot was straight at Friedel after playing a clever one-two with Drogba, the Ivorian doing well to feed the ball back to his teammate. To compound Bosingwa's misery, the defender will miss next week's game against Wigan after picking up his fifth caution of the campaign. Ballack could have wrapped up victory but his rocket shot was tipped over by Friedel after being set up brilliantly by Deco - the former Barcelona man weaving between the Villa defenders. But the day was Chelsea's, and Guus Hiddink was given a winning start to his reign as manager of Chelsea Football Club. ___________________________________________________________________ The TalkChelsea.net Man of the Match award goes to... Frank Lampard Aston Villa: Friedel; Cuéllar, Knight, Davies (Carew 70), L Young; Milner, Petrov, Barry ©, A Young; Agbonlahor, Heskey Manager: Martin O'Neill Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry ©, Ferreira; Ballack, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou (Deco 55), Drogba (Belletti 90), Anelka Manager: Guus Hiddink

I thought he was sensational today.

Was more of a bitch slap if I recall correctly.

Very good first half. I'm impressed with Lampard and Anelka in particular.

The owner of the site is busy running a bigger forum.

CONFIRMED TEAM NEWS Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Davies, Knight, Luke Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delfouneso, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner. Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ferreira, Mikel, Ballack, Lampard, Kalou, Anelka, Drogba. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Quaresma, Deco, Belletti, Mancienne, Stoch. Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

If we win I'll go to school in my Chelsea pyjamas on Monday If we play that system, I will be happy. 4-4-FUCKING-2 :D

Being realistic, the club would tell Citeh to fuck off for the simple reason JT loves Chelsea - and supported Manchester United as a boy